As humans age, their skin loses elasticity and becomes lax. The combined effects of sunlight (photodamage) and gravity result in the collection of loose skin in the regions of the face (particularly around the eyes, jaw line, chin, and neck) and the body (predominantly the waistline and buttocks). They also cause wrinkling of the skin. Many individuals are concerned with these and other signs of aging and look for ways to slow or reverse them in order to preserve or achieve a youthful appearance.
The current techniques for treating skin laxity of the face include the surgical face lift and the retraction of dermal tissue through the use of electromagnetic radiation (hereinafter “EMR”), i.e., such as laser, radio frequency, or ultrasound. The surgical facelift is a highly invasive procedure that poses many risks of permanent injury, produces several undesirable side effects, and requires a long recovery period. Potential risks of injury include scarring, nerve damage, surgical infection, loss or displacement of subcutaneous fatty tissue, and complications arising from general anesthesia. Side effects include unnatural distributions of elasticity and laxity and thinning of the skin (which, in turn, results in further laxity). And the typical recovery period for a full facelift is roughly two weeks. Recovery can take longer depending upon the age and medical condition of the patient and any complications from surgery. Skin laxity of the body, by contrast, is typically treated by surgically removing excess skin and then closing the skin with sutures the so called “tummy tuck.” The risks and side effects are generally the same as those involved in a facelift.
It is known that EMR can cause retraction of dermal tissue. The radiation disrupts the tissue, causing it to produce additional collagen and elastin, which, in turn, results in tightening and retraction of the irradiated dermal tissue. Conventional methods have been proposed using EMR to restore elasticity to aging skin. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional EMR treatment method, a single EMR device is used to direct a single beam or other energy path (hereinafter, a “beam”) into the skin without differentiation as to the energy applied at any given depth of penetration. The resulting damage pattern from this treatment is shown in FIG. 1. This method, as well as other conventional methods, have encountered a fundamental problem: in order to deliver sufficient level of energy to the dermal tissue to produce the desired effect, they cause excessive damage to the superficial adjacent epidermis and the deeper adjacent subcutaneous fatty tissue, as well as the blood vessels of the skin.
Some injury to these structures may be inevitable using EMR treatment methods. But a medically acceptable method of delivering EMR to the dermis should achieve a level of disruption to the dermal layer sufficient to create significant retraction of the dermal tissue while avoiding excessive damage to these adjacent structures.